The historic Spanish Steps in Rome, rising from the Piazza di Spagna to the Trinita dei Monti Church, were constructed in the 1720s and have attracted visitors for generations, partially due to their central location in the capital. For artists like Hassam, who painted at least three or four canvases of the site, the steps presented intriguing design possibilities through the intersection of horizontal, round, and diagonal forms, depending on one’s point of view. In two of his finished canvases, one currently in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the other owned by the Newark Museum until 2021, he chose to paint the stairs and the people traversing them from an upward angle. However, in our painting, he has captured the stairs from an elevated perspective, looking down towards a mid-level terrace and neighboring buildings, and with low hills rising in the distance. The resulting composition offers an engaging layout of straight and curved lines as the viewer’s eyes move into and through the scene; furthermore, the time of day plays an important role, allowing Hassam to capture the striking contrast between the soft shadows cast by the unseen church and the radiant stucco wall at center, as the morning sun gradually rises higher overhead.

More information about this painting...

Based on the daffodils held by some of the figures in Down the Spanish Stairs, Rome, this piece may have done in late March or early April when such spring blooms were emerging, and it is interesting to note that a couple of women in the scene are holding babies, perhaps taking them to a church service around the Easter holiday. Because Hassam painted several views of the site, determining which painting was shown in specific exhibitions during his lifetime is challenging without labels or old photographs; however, a contemporaneous review of the Second Exhibition of the Ten American Painters held in April 1899 at Durand-Ruel Galleries in New York seems to perfectly describe Down the Spanish Stairs, Rome: “Near the top of this broad curved stairway, on his right being the rounded wall of the little plaza above, while in front of him, in the level space between the foot of the gray steps and an imposing house of cream yellow material, is a tree, whose leaves are of a fresh, warm green. In the distance, over the roof of the building, may be seen the blue-green hills. Near the top of the stairway, in the foreground, stands a woman holding a child while farther down are more figures.”  We are grateful to Kathleen Burnside, Co-Author of the Childe Hassam Catalogue Raisonné, for her assistance in researching the exhibition history and provenance of Down the Spanish Stairs, Rome.

Provenance:

Mr. Frederik Lek, La Jolla, California, by 1962 

To Miss Barbara Lek, Mill Valley, California, by 1980 (who lent it to the University Art Museum, Berkeley, 1980-1987)

With Christie’s, New York, Sale 6512, December 4, 1987, Lot 208

To Mr. and Mrs. Julius Perlbinder, Florida, 1987

Eventually to Lagakos-Turak Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

To private collection, Villanova, Pennsylvania, circa 1998 to present

Labels:

1. (torn old label on foam core backing) A. Guinchard & F. Fourniret / Emballeurs / 76, Rue Blanche, Paris / Exposition de: (blank) / (rest of label is missing)
2. (unidentified loan label on foam core backing, presumably the University Art Museum, Berkeley) Childe Hassam / (United States, 1859-1935) / The Spanish Steps of Rome / 1897 / Oil on canvas / Anonymous extended loan. / E.L. 1.80.4
3. (on foam core backing) Lagakos-Turak Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / Artist: Childe Hassam / Title: “The Spanish Steps of Rome” / Medium: oil on canvas / Date: 1897 Size: 26 1/2 x 23 1/3” 

Literature:

This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Stuart P. Feld and Kathleen M. Burnside (no. 1897.015)

Exhibitions:

1. Ten American Painters, Second Exhibition, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, April 4 – 15, 1899, as Down the Spanish Stairs, Rome
2. (likely) Sixth Annual Exhibition of American Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 20 – July 10, 1899, as no. 4 Down the Spanish Stairs, Rome
3. (possible) One man exhibition held at Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, September 9 – 19, 1901, as no. 4 L’Escalier des Espagnols, Rome
4. (possible) Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, from April 20, 1901, as no. 584 L’Escalier des Espagnols à Rome